Common Lore
A wary, elderly coyote curled up by the bonfire lifted his head from paws, the bright flames illuminating the silver whiskers on his muzzle, his chestnut brown eyes lackluster with exhaustion. However, he managed to muster a dull smile that he directed toward some of the younger Pups of the pack, and they bounded over, squeaking eagerly as they surrounded him, the sounds of the Fire Festival resounding past the roar of the bonfire. "Ready to learn some common lore?" he asked them, already knowing the answer. "Yes!" squealed a pup. "Tell us, Strider!" another added impatiently, his small paws squirming underneath him. Common lore is common knowledge of the legends of the Ancient Ways that are known by any believers in the Ancient Ways, and form a skeleton for all other mythologies and stories. All members of the Holy Alliance should know the stories regarded as common lore. Common lore includes tales such as the creation story, the natural disasters story, and the tale of Fate's betrayal. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE AND OTHER STORIES;; A god named Asa creates time and space as we know it at first. He has a pelt of all the colours of the sky and the storms and the trees. His eyes are a mismatched gold and silver, and he also has majestic horns that protrude from his head, beautiful antlers an inky shade of black. Then, Asa got lonely, and, instinctively, he knew what he had to do. Swiftly and agonizingly, he tore the two beautiful horns from his head, and from these horns he crafted the first two coyotes. He named one coyote Selene, and he named the other Sorin. Selene was a beautiful she-coyote, and Asa breathed life into her, and did the same for Sorin, a muscular, towering brute. Blood poured from the wounds on his head, and this blood stained Selene's pelt a rich, deep blue, and marked Sorin with a bright, pale cerulean colour. There was only one problem. Sorin and Selene had no eyes - they were blind. And so, in an act of great sacrifice, Asa tore the mismatched eyes from his head, giving Selene a single, silver eye and Sorin a single golden one. Blind and hornless, he sauntered to the far corners of the universe to observe Sorin and Selene, and he heard them laugh and dance and eventually they fell deep in love with each other. They had eight Pups, and these eight Pups created the Earth. The oldest Pup was Fire, and he curled himself into a ball and created the earth's hot molten core. But of course, his fiery pelt was not suitable for life, so these one oldest Pup named Stone wrapped her thick tail and pelt around Fire to create the world's rocky soil and surface, so that when the animals and plants of the earth came they would not be scalded by Fire. And so on this went - Sky created a wonderful azure aura to protect the earth from the dangers of the universe, Water ran his blue blood all over Stone's pelt to nourish the plants that would be created eventually, Air created air for the creatures who would soon inhabit the earth to breathe, Flora created plants and trees, and the last two daughters were Fate and Fauna. Fauna was not like the other Pups, nor was Fate. Fauna, one day coming into contact with Asa, was inspired by his sacrifice and decided to make a sacrifice of her own in order to create the creatures of the Earth. Out of the own horns atop her head, she did what Asa had done to create Selene and Sorin and crafted all the animals of the world. But after a few animals, she ran out of material, and began to gnaw at her own bone, making dozens more species but eventually killing herself in the process. Honoring her, Asa burned her and scattered her ashes far into the universe, so that even in death she would be able to look down on the creatures she had created with her ashes as what we know today as stars. Fate was immediately jealous that Asa had taken a liking to Fauna, and, striving to get his attention, decided to hatch a spiteful plot to get rid of her parents Selene and Sorin so that she and Asa could forever rule the universe together. When the world was new, there were various coyote packs, but there were two rival packs that famously fought and were constantly thrown into chaotic war with each other. They fought over land, prey, everything - many of them forgot why they were fighting, but they hated and hated the other pack nonetheless, so they held this hated close to their heart and each pack seemed the destruction of the other. Fate decided to walk in the dreams of both leaders of each pack one night. She talked to the leader of the first pack, which was known as the FlameDancers, and made a deal with them. If they could do a favor for her, she would grant them the power to defeat their great rest rival. They readily accepted, misguided by their corrupted ambition, and did as they were told by Fate. Selene rose at certain times and Sorin was awakened at certain times, and each would shed their own light across the land and would individually watch over their Pups and their Pups' creations. When the moon rose, they found the clearest pond in all the land, and as the moon reached it's peak they stirred the water with a stick until the moon's reflection had completely vanished from the pond's surface. Unfortunately, they did not realize they had been tricked by Fate, and had accidentally stolen the moon, Selene's eye, whose powers were completely held in the reflection of the moon in that pond. The night turned black, and darkness overcame the horizon. There were no stars nor night clouds. Everything was gone, replaced by the same black void from which Asa had been born. The FlameDancers, expecting to wake up to immense powers, slept soundly that night, as Fate spoke to the leader of the FlameDancer's rival pack in their dreams. The FlameDancer's worst enemy was known as the ShadeWalkers. Fate spoke to the ShadeWalker's leader that night, promising him the same thing as he promised the leader of the FlameDancer pack, except he was given slightly different orders. And so, following Fate's instructions, the ShadeWalkers awoke early, before Sorin rose and cast the light of his eye upon the world, and, as night turned to dawn, found the purest Quartz in the land and saw the sun's reflection in the crystal. Then, they dropped a boulder upon the Quartz and shattered it to pieces, burying it deep beneath the ground where none could find it ever again. Much like the situation with the FlameDancers and Selene, the ShadeWalkers did not realize they had unintentionally stolen the sun and Sorin's eye, and the day turned into a black, hellish nightmare, just as the night had. These dark, solemn hours lasted only a few days before the FlameDancers and ShadeWalkers visited each other in this dire time of need. They decided to band together and, upon sharing information, realized that both of them had been tricked into stealing the sun and moon. So they thought and thought, and at last they came up with a solution. Each leader sacrificed one eye, and one threw his eye into the clearest pond while the other placed his by the purest of Quartz. Sure enough, Sorin and Selene adopted these eyes as their own, and the sun and moon shine brightly once again, bathing the land in hope. Asa, having watched the entire situation, chastised Fate and decided to send her to the far reaches of the universe, cursing her to never again walk in the light of the sun or moon, and abandoning her where she could still decide the life or death of living creatures on earth, which was her duty. She hid in the dark recesses and abysses and the spaces between the stars that are an inky black much unlike the beautiful blue of Selene's pelt. Fate was never allowed to be among the coyotes on earth, but she was not entirely banished... for on nights when the sun and moon overlap and their light becomes near-obsolete, she is freed from her curse for as long as the single light of the moon or sun does not dominate and light and darkness are at a standstill. Next page advised to read Honorary Festivities